1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to sintered beads based on zirconia and on cerium oxide, and to their use in grinders.
2. Description of the Related Art
A desired quality for sintered beads that are to serve in microgrinder and microdispersion applications, e.g. with pigments for paints, is their resistance to wear.
It is known that density is an important parameter and it is known that the density of a sintered product can be increased by raising the sintering temperature. Nevertheless, such an increase in temperature is expensive, and also leads to a modification to the microscopic structure of the product, which can harm its performance.
There thus exists a need for a sintered bead that presents good resistance to wear and that is capable of being fabricated by sintering at relatively low temperatures.